Australian Open Amasses Record Breaking Amount for Bushfire Relief Funds

The bushfire in Australia has truly shaken not just the continent but the globe. The crisis has wreaked havoc in the beautiful land as humans and wild life, alike, have fought to survive. Tennis Australian had a wonderful idea of kick starting a relief campaign called Aces for Bushfire Relief during the Australian Open and ATP Cup.

As the name suggests, aces played a huge part in the relief campaign. For every ace served during the ATP Cup and 2020 Australian Open, players pledged to donate a certain amount to the fund. Fans also had the option of pledging money for their players’ aces. Not bad at all, considering tennis and aces are eternally linked.

Australian Open scores big

One particular player, quite hands-on in the relief effort outside and within the tennis community, was Nick Kyrgios. As part of the Aces for Bushfire Relief, Kyrgios pledged $200 behind every ace he served in the ATP Cup and Australian Open. Perfect.

But many other participated in the relief, coming together as a community to help out collectively. And the result was…absolutely fantastic! The 2020 Australian Open gave us 11,058 aces!

Tennis Australia raised an amount to the tune of $5,818,861 for the Aces for Bushfire Relief. A significant amount for a wonderful cause. But there is more. The initiative was in place throughout the tennis season in Australia. The total aces served during the entire month of tennis Down Under was 11,114 and $6,096,453 raised.

Coming back to Kyrgios, the Aussie hit the most aces in the Australian Open 2020 with a tremendous 100 in just four matches. With $200 pledged behind every ace by Kyrgios, his donation came to a $20,000. A fast food joint from Australia had pledged to equal Nick’s donation.

So Kyrgios alone managed to raise $40,000 through the Grand Slam. Moreover, he also had 93 community pledges of $434 for each ace. John Millman, the inexhaustible Australia player, pledged $100 for each of his aces.

Many top players helped in raising the funds, either by personal pledges or community pledges. For instance, Rafael Nadal had 83 community pledges from his fans with $287.50 behind every ace he served. As always, Federer is on top when it comes to fan related matters. His fans, on average, made a pledge of $748 for each ace he served. Karoline Pliskova pledged $200 per ace as well, hitting 19 of them.

Overall, it is a very commendable effort by both tennis players and fans.